He looks so much bigger than the other players. He will have to improve on his explosiveness to pull off the same moves at next level. There will now be a bigger guy than him at the rim and just as big and quick on the perimeter.

He looks so much bigger than the other players. He will have to improve on his explosiveness to pull off the same moves at next level. There will now be a bigger guy than him at the rim and just as big and quick on the perimeter.

Josh was far more athletic IMHO.

Josh is far more athletic then most players. He’s also a guard. Preston has 2+ inches and 30-35 pounds more weight too

Great highlights. Thanks for the video. How soon after Billy graduates will we know if he qualifies academically? I’d hate to see his eligibility drag out like it did with Diallo. I’d like to think our program is already working on the necessary background information.

It won’t be like Cheick. There isn’t any murky area like there was with Cheick. He will have either made up the needed credits (probably) or he won’t have. We know the NCAA isn’t accepting the API credits. Possible he will need some summer school.

Sam lacks basketball skills. Newman and Preston are black holes that aren’t know for defense. I’m excited for Malik, clearly, given my current avatar. Also very excited for Preston, who is extremely talented. The potential for next year is through the roof, but we need Newman and Preston to “unpack their bags” like Josh did.

Lacks basketball skills. He will do something amazing athletically, then he will do something completely baffling. If you are really bored at some point I recommend watching all the ASU games he played in last year. They should still all mostly be on youtube.

The expectations thing is mainly that thread on the phog. I think some people in that thread are thinking Cunliffe is going to do a lot more than he actually will next season. I’d be thrilled with him if he was the 7th man and got his PER up to like, 16.

@BShark PER is an odd animal sometimes. Graham’s was 17.4 last season, Svi’s PER was just 14.1, and Vick 12.7.

A 16 PER for Cunliffe would actually be amazing, I think – so thrilled is a good term.

Mason was 25.5 and JJ 24.1.

Just as info, Wiggins was 21.4 in his season, and Embiid was 28.2. Marcus Morris’ 29.3 in 2010-11 was the best I could find for a Kansas player under Self.

Yeah, I don’t think he will next year for the record. As advanced stats go, Cunliffe was pretty bad in general. But so was the entire ASU team really. So in part it’s all about context as well. For example Tyler Self had a better DRTG than Cunliffe, but we know Self never played meaningful minutes. Overall, I just didn’t like what I saw of Cunliffe as well. He’s intriguing though, and I am definitely interested to see how he fits with this KU team and I’d love to ultimately be proven wrong about him.

Preston is a top 10 talent. I like how we are being guarded with this one. I think that comes from seeing the disappointment of past freshman big’s that came in with significant hype.

He’s got all the talent in the world if he puts it together under Self. He’s better then Alexander, Bragg, Diallo, any recent OAD big we’ve had not named Embiid. The first couple months if he’s here will be good and bad. If he settles in and finds his role on this team he’s got a chance to make KU one of the top-3 teams next year.

At this moment a lot is riding on him to be eligible and be a starter. Given what we know about him that’s asking a lot but again the talent is there. Self has his work cut out for him with this guy. Untapping his potential and molding him into this team is paramount

Cunliffe had a PER of 10 in his limited time at Arizona St. The sample size definitely is small with him, freshman playing big minutes on a terrible team, inconsistent shooting games, leaves at semester. We’ll see what role he settles into once eligible.

He’s a big, physical guy. 6-9, 230 and, if reports are to be believed, hasn’t done much weight training. There are a lot of people out there that would do a lot of things that can’t be written here to look like that without living in the gym for 10+ years.

He handles well… for a big guy (we will come back to this).

His jump shot is as clean as a lot of guards. He can pull up from 20 off the bounce, and his balance/footwork are pristine.

He has the physical skill to guard 3-5 (maybe 1-5 if he’s willing to dedicate himself on that end).

He is “game strong.” Look at him taking contact. It just doesn’t matter. He doesn’t lose his balance or his speed. He’s similar to Josh in that respect. Absorbs the contact but doesn’t lose speed or explosiveness.

Both his jumpshot and his footwork are improved from his junior year. He got better in observable ways. That’s a huge plus for a guy as old as he is (turns 20 this fall).

Things I don’t like.

He seems like he’s playing at about 60% capacity most of the time. That’s a hard habit to break.

He believes he handles the ball well, but his handle needs to be much tighter to do the things that he has done in the past in college. He will get his pocket picked with that loose dribble at the next level.

He’s quite old for his class, which make his HS exploits much less impressive when you realize he was a year older than most seniors and 2-3 years older and more mature than most of his opponents.

Things I need to see

Effort - He has worlds of talent, but he doesn’t always try to access that ability, particularly defensively.

Continued improvement - because he’s so old, his development curve is further along than most (he’s more than 2 years older than Udoka and nearly the same age as Svi). He has to continue to improve on the court because the natural improvement that comes with getting older and maturing is nearly done for him.